Parliament & the Union executive

Answer: (c) 1, 2 and 3

Article 109 lays down a special procedure for Money Bills: they cannot start in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), which may only return the Bill with recommendations within fourteen days. The House of the People (Lok Sabha) is free to accept or reject those recommendations, so statement 4 is wrong.

• ✓ 1. Article 109 is headed 'Special procedure in respect of Money Bills'.
• ✓ 2. Article 109(1) says a Money Bill shall not be introduced in the Council of States; it can start only in the Lok Sabha.
• ✓ 3. The Rajya Sabha cannot reject or amend a Money Bill. It can only send back recommendations, so its role is limited to suggesting changes.
• ✗ 4. Under Article 109(2) the Lok Sabha may either accept or reject all or any of the Rajya Sabha's recommendations. It is not bound to accept them.

Remember · Money Bill: introduced only in Lok Sabha; Rajya Sabha can only recommend within 14 days; Lok Sabha may accept or reject the recommendations (Article 109).

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 5 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 1 and 3 only

Statements 1 and 3 are correct; statement 2 is wrong because Lok Sabha's Rule 233A lets any person, not only a Member, complain about a Member's unethical conduct, provided a Member forwards it. The Committee on Ethics began as an ad-hoc committee in 2000 and was made a regular standing committee in 2015.

• ✓ 1. The Committee on Ethics was first constituted as an ad-hoc committee on 16 May 2000, during the 13th Lok Sabha.
• ✗ 2. Rule 233A says any person or member may complain. If the complaint comes from an outsider, a Member must forward it, and an affidavit is needed unless a Member is the complainant.
• ✓ 3. Rule 233A(10) bars the Committee from taking up any sub-judice matter (one pending before a court), and the Committee's own decision on whether a matter is sub-judice is final.
• • Since then Since 2015 (16th Lok Sabha) the Committee is a regular standing committee under Rule 316A, no longer ad-hoc (Lok Sabha Secretariat).

Remember · Lok Sabha's Ethics Committee: ad-hoc from 2000, standing since 2015; any person may complain through a Member; sub-judice matters are excluded.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only

Statements 2 and 3 are correct. The women's reservation (Constitution 106th Amendment) Act, 2023 lapses 15 years after its commencement and sets aside one-third of the Scheduled Caste seats for SC women. Statement 1 is wrong because reservation starts only after a fresh delimitation based on the first census taken after the Act, not from the 18th Lok Sabha.

• ✗ 1. Article 334A says the reservation takes effect after delimitation is done using the first census figures published after the Act's commencement. The 18th Lok Sabha (elected in 2024) was therefore not covered.
• ✓ 2. Article 334A(1) provides that the reservation ceases to have effect on the expiry of fifteen years from commencement. Parliament may extend this by law.
• ✓ 3. Article 330A(2) reserves, as nearly as may be, one-third of the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (and for Scheduled Tribes) for women of those communities.

Remember · Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (106th Amendment, 2023): one-third seats for women, SC/ST quota sub-reserved, effective after post-census delimitation, lapses 15 years from commencement.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) Both 1 and 2

Statement 2 is straight from the Constitution: Article 113(3) bars any demand for a grant without the President's recommendation. For statement 1, the Finance Minister lays the Annual Financial Statement before Parliament for the Government, the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister, on whose advice the President 'causes' it to be laid under Article 112. UPSC's key treats both as correct.

• ✓ 1. Article 112(1) makes the President cause the Annual Financial Statement to be laid before both Houses; under Article 74 the President acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at its head, and the Finance Minister lays the statement on the Government's behalf, presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha and laying it in the Rajya Sabha.
• ✓ 2. Article 113(3): no demand for a grant shall be made except on the recommendation of the President. Demands for grants are submitted to the Lok Sabha only in this way.

Remember · Art 112: the President causes the Annual Financial Statement to be laid; the Finance Minister presents the Budget for the Government headed by the Prime Minister. Art 113(3): no demand for a grant without the President's recommendation.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Social Change and Development in India, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) 1 only

Article 96 lays down what happens while a resolution to remove the Speaker is under consideration. The Speaker may not preside, even though present, but keeps the right to speak and to take part in the proceedings, and can vote in the first instance like any member. So only statement 1 is correct.

• ✓ 1. Article 96(1): the Speaker shall not preside at the sitting while a resolution for his removal is under consideration, though he is present.
• ✗ 2. Article 96(2) gives the Speaker the right to speak in, and otherwise take part in, the proceedings of the House while the resolution is under consideration.
• ✗ 3. Article 96(2) entitles the Speaker to vote in the first instance on the resolution or any other matter in those proceedings. What he does not get is a casting vote in case of a tie.

Remember · Article 96: on his own removal resolution the Speaker does not preside but may speak and vote in the first instance; he has no casting vote in a tie.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (b) 1 and 2

Article 107(5) says a Bill pending in the Lok Sabha, or passed by it and pending in the Rajya Sabha, lapses when the Lok Sabha is dissolved. That rule is 'subject to article 108', and Article 108(5) lets a joint sitting be held even after dissolution, so a Bill for which the President has notified a joint sitting does not lapse.

• ✓ 1. A Bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses on its dissolution (Article 107(5)).
• ✓ 2. A Bill passed by the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha also lapses when the Lok Sabha is dissolved (Article 107(5)).
• ✗ 3. Article 108(5) allows the joint sitting to be held and the Bill passed even though the Lok Sabha has been dissolved since the President notified the sitting. Such a Bill therefore does not lapse.

Remember · Lok Sabha dissolution lapses Bills pending in it, or passed by it and pending in Rajya Sabha. Bills only in Rajya Sabha, or with a joint sitting notified, survive.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) 2 and 3

The President prorogues the Houses and dissolves the Lok Sabha under Article 85(2), but under Article 74(1) he acts in accordance with the advice of the Council of Ministers, so statement 1 is wrong. Prorogation usually follows an adjournment sine die, yet it can take place even while the House is sitting, and dissolution is ordinarily on the Council's advice too.

• ✗ 1. Article 74(1) makes the President act in accordance with the Council of Ministers' advice in exercising his functions, and prorogation is no exception. He may ask the Council to reconsider its advice once, but must then follow it.
• ✓ 2. Prorogation ends a session by the President's order under Article 85(2)(a). It usually follows adjournment sine die, but it can take place at any time, even while the House is sitting.
• ✓ 3. The Lok Sabha is dissolved by the President's order under Article 85(2)(b), and he ordinarily acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers under Article 74(1). The phrase 'save in exceptional circumstances' does not change that general rule.

Remember · The President prorogues the Houses and dissolves the Lok Sabha, acting on the Council of Ministers' advice (Art 74(1)). Prorogation usually follows adjournment sine die but can occur mid-session.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2024, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error